A composite material is a material made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties. In recent years, the composite materials have been widely used in textiles, buildings, car bodies, electronic parts, and the like. Such composite materials are usually composited of a fibrous matrix and a reinforcing agent distributed on the fibrous matrix. The reinforcing agent is used for enhancing various performances of the fibrous matrix, such as tensile strength, flexural strength, and the like.
Thermoplastic polymer is commonly used as the reinforcing agent for the fibrous matrix to enhance mechanical properties, such as tensile strength, elongation and flexural strength, of the fibrous matrix. Conventional thermoplastic polymers used as the reinforcing agent are produced by subjecting a diepoxide compound (i.e., a compound having two epoxide functionalities) and a mono primary amine compound or bis(secondary amine) compound to polymerization.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,111 discloses a process for making a thermoplastic composite which comprises reacting in-situ a low viscosity mixture of a dieposide with a difunctional species in the presence of reinforcing fibers.
However, the thermoplastic polymer thus produced has a linear configuration, and the composite material made from the thermoplastic polymer and fibers may not have satisfactory mechanical properties and a sufficiently high glass transition temperature.
In addition, composite materials are conventionally made by embedding fibers into a thermoplastic polymer which is synthesized in advance. For example, the thermoplastic polymer synthesized in advance is hot-molten and the fibers are then embedded into the hot-molten thermoplastic polymer to produce the composite material. Since the thermoplastic polymer has relatively high viscosity, the effect of embedding the fibers into the thermoplastic polymer is unsatisfactory, and the interlayer bonding of the composite material is inferior.
There is a need in the art to provide a composite material which may overcome the aforesaid disadvantages of the prior art.